Teams in Appleby College’s position could have grown frustrated and disillusioned months ago.

With the losses mounting in league play, it had to be difficult to entertain any thoughts of a championship. But just a month after concluding an 0-13-2 Conference of Independent Schools Athletic Association season, the Blue Dogs found themselves just one win away from capturing the school’s second provincial high school hockey title.

Appleby would have to settle for silver, though. Three first-period goals by London South CI put the Blue Dogs in an early hole from which they could not escape. London added a goal early in the third and put two more into an empty net to win 6-0 and take the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) A/AA boys’ hockey title Friday at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex.

“It’s a lot better feeling winning a bronze than losing a gold,” said Appleby College coach Dan Poliziani. “But I think when we look back at the process, we had a season full of losing in a strong league so to rebound and get a silver medal at OFSAA, it’s something this team should be proud of.”

“We just tried to play our best and go as far as we could,” said Appleby captain Ben Sisokin. “We did better than everyone thought we would and even better than we thought we would. It’s tough now, but I think tonight or tomorrow we’ll realize what we did. I think we had a great tournament.”

Appleby went 5-1-2, outscoring its opponents 20-6 prior to the final. Overcoming what Sisokin said was a shaky start — the Blue Dogs needed two third-period goals to win each of their two games on the opening day — Appleby came back strong on the second day and carried its momentum into the playoff rounds, allowing only three goals in its next four games with goalies Mishel Abudi and Avery Gobbo each posting a shutout.

“We just trusted each other and our coach,” Sisokin said. “He’s been around and done this a lot, so we trusted what he was telling us.”

It was knowing the strength of the CISAA league that kept Appleby from getting discouraged earlier in the season. Consider that St. Michael’s won the OFSAA AAA/AAAA tournament (2-0 over St. Mary’s CSS), and it finished fifth in the CISAA.

“It wasn’t the year we were hoping for (in league play) but no one quit,” said Andrew Tarasca, who shared the tournament lead with eight goals, including a pair in the semifinal win. “It was a tough year with only five returning players and it was a big challenge for us.”

Appleby faced another tough test in the final against the tournament’s top seed. London South, which allowed only four goals in the entire tournament, struck quickly. It scored just 1:25 into the game and though Appleby outshot London 11-8 in the period, it trailed 3-0 at the end of the first.

“I thought we sustained a lot of the play, we just didn’t get the puck to the net,” Poliziani said. “We gave them a couple of early goals and then we had to start taking chances. If it’s a 1-0 after the first, it’s a different game.”

“I would have liked for our seniors to go out with a win,” he added.

Appleby will lose six players, including Abudi, who had a 1.78 goals-against average in five games, and Jonathan Watkin, who had a team-best six assists, as well as Sisokin, Matthew Mustard, Marcus Miller and Chris Luongo.